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The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from David Rohde, Sarah Cox, Wyatt Williams, Joshua Hammer, and Kiana Fitzgerald, Paula Mejía, Matt Sonzala, Donnie Houston, Lance Scott Walker, Brandon Caldwell, Cat Cardenas, Jessi Pereira, and Sama’an Ashrawi.
Finding Strength in What’s Routine (and Our Top 5)
It’s a small miracle, I think, to experience a shift in perspective toward empathy. Being intentional about it is a small risk, a small assignment if you will, with the potential for a modest but meaningful personal reward.
John Updike, His Stories, and Me
“But now I’ve been a writer for 30 years, I can understand the impulses that I and he and probably every other writer have: to go after a subject we’re compelled by.”
Best of 2025: All Our Number One Story Picks
Every story we selected for the number one slot in our weekly newsletter, all in one place.
A Colorful Addition and the Week’s Top 5
“Humans are besotted with color and we always have been. We love it so much we will breathe it, eat it, drink it, and look at it until our eyes roll back in our heads. We will paint with it, paint the world with it, paint ourselves with it. We will go to the ends […]
This Week: Rituals, Emoji, and a Cold Case
“Ritual is an urge and an act; it’s an aesthetic gesture. As an adult I established the habit of turning my attention to those subtle seasonal details and recording them. I was loving and honoring the land, but this practice still left something undone. A certain clarity, maybe formality. Something like a frame around a […]
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week we are sharing stories on gun violence, Silicon Valley in the ’90s, the ability of artificial intelligence, and the community of audiophiles.
All the Stories Nominated for the 2022 National Magazine Awards
Consider this your reading list for the next few weeks.


